18. The Princess Makes Two More Friends
"And the plant she named Liberty Tree," sang Nita blithely up in the window of the sun parlor, where she sat with her mother and her old Scotch nurse, Ellen, watching the brilliant scene being enacted down on the lawn.
As the last verse ended-and there were four-Helen stepped before the Goddess, and after saluting told in a few words how the brave pioneers had brought to this land a tiny spark which had flamed into the sacred fire of Liberty. As time wore on, trampled by the sons of Tyranny, it was in danger of being stamped out, when the daughters of these pioneers fled to its aid in their great fight for the right, and by their bravery and heroic self-denial had revived the sacred fire. The ensigns now floating before her were the signals of their success in making this land, "The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave!"
An expression of regret flitted across Nita's face as she realized that she could not hear the words Helen was speaking, but in a moment, remembering, she cried, "But I have them, Mamma, for Nathalie not only taught me the words of the songs, but wrote down for me the speeches of the girls. Ah, Helen is telling the Goddess how the Pilgrims came to this land and planted the Liberty Tree. Of course they did not really plant it, you know, only in their hearts, for they were determined to have liberty of conscience, speech, and action.
"Oh, and there's another daughter speaking to the Goddess. See, she carries the flag that came over in the
Mayflower with the Pilgrims." Then Miss Nita, finding she had an appreciative audience in her mother and Ellen, rattled on, highly pleased to think she was giving them such good entertainment. She repeated the words of each fair daughter as she displayed her trophy of liberty, and could clap as enthusiastically as the spectators watching from the hillocks in the distance. Mrs. Van Vorst, as she heard her daughter's words and witnessed her joy, entering with as much zest and spirit into the patriotic little drill as the Pioneers smiled in attune with the invalid, showing more enjoyment than she had done for years.
"There's the flag of Bunker Hill; it is just like the Pine Tree flag, only it is blue instead of red," exclaimed Nita. "And, oh, Mother, see, there's the real Liberty Flag with its pine tree, and motto, 'An Appeal to Heaven.' Look quick! that's the Markoe flag! See, it is yellow and has thirteen stripes of blue and silver. Nathalie said this flag was the first one on land to float stripes, and that it was the flag carried by the Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse when they escorted Washington to New York. And that crimson silk flag is the Casimir flag; it belonged to Count Casimir. He was the son of Pulaski, who perished in a dungeon for advocating the cause of liberty. The Count came to America and organized a corps of cavalry at Baltimore, and when the Moravian nuns heard of it they presented him with that flag. But, oh, Mother, the poor Count died after all; he was shot at the siege of Savannah in 1779."
Ellen, the old Scotch nurse who adored her invalid charge, and who had always taken care of her from the time she was a wee tot, was deeply stirred as she saw how Nita entered into the new life that had suddenly been opened up to her, and her face fairly beamed with gratified pride as she heard her repeat the songs and speeches of the girls in the playlet.
When the last speech ended, the strains of Yankee Doodle were heard, and presently a Scout in the uniform of a Continental soldier appeared on the platform carrying a draped flag. After saluting the mother of Freedom he planted his pole in the center of the circle of Liberty maidens, and the next instant each one had caught up one of the red, blue, and white streamers that hung from it, and were swinging gayly around, singing "The Red, White, and Blue."
This song was followed by the "Battle Cry of Freedom," and then the soldier, saluting the Goddess again in a short speech, said he desired to present to her an emblem, the outgrowth of the labors of the Sons and Daughters of Liberty. The ensign that stands for everything that is just, true, and progressive, the symbol of the sovereignty of Civilization, the banner that had been unfurled in more movements for the protection, the liberty, and the elevation of mankind, than any ensign that ripples to the four winds of Heaven.
Oh, no, the little company up in the window didn't hear all these words from the lips of the soldier, but from Nita as she read them softly from her paper. But they did see the signal given by the soldier, and clapped with joy when each fair daughter pulled her streamer, the red drapings fell from the pole, and Old Glory stood revealed. And as the colors swayed softly in the gentle breeze they joined with patriotic fervor as the girls and audience broke into "The Star Spangled Banner!"
The Flag Drill was over, and the girls, breaking ranks, were soon scattered here and there over the lawn in groups, as they stood receiving the congratulations of their friends on the success of the entertainment. It was but a moment or so, however, and the girls had all rushed back to duty, and each one with a scout was serving ice-cream and cake to the buyers at the gayly festooned tables under the trees.
Nathalie, nerve and bone tired, was wishing that she could sit down if only for a moment, when her eyes suddenly grew bright with thought, and the next second she had darted across the grass crying, "Oh, Grace, don't you think it would be nice if we could take some cream and cake up to Nita and her mother?"
"Nita?" repeated that young lady, who had never heard the name before. "Why, what do you mean?"
Nathalie started. "Oh, why, to be sure, I forgot to tell you about her, but Mrs. Morrow thought best to-"
Nathalie broke off in despair as she realized that Grace knew nothing about the princess in the tower and the many other happenings at the gray house, only that its owner had consented to allow the girls to use her lawn.
"Why, you know Nita is Mrs. Van Vorst's daughter; she was the one who got her mother to let us have the lawn. She's just lovely, I have been going to see her every day for-"
At this moment Ellen, her face glowing with pleasure, touched Nathalie on the arm as she cried, "Oh, Miss Nathalie, Mrs. Van Vorst has sent me to ask you to come up and see Miss Nita, and to bring two of your friends with you!"
Nathalie stared a moment as if not comprehending what Ellen had said, and then, "Oh, Ellen, do you mean that Mrs. Van Vorst wants me to come up to see Miss Nita and to-"
"Yes, that is just what I mean, Miss," rejoined Ellen, evidently enjoying Nathalie's amazement. "Miss Nita wants to meet some of your Pioneer friends. Bless the child, Miss Nathalie, but you and your friends have brought real sunshine straight to the heart of my bairn. Bless you for it!"
Nathalie smiled and nodded as she answered, "All right, Ellen, I'll be right up!" Then, as the old nurse disappeared among the throngs on the lawn Nathalie turned to Grace, who was standing in open-mouthed astonishment at this sudden turn in the day's doings.
"Oh, Grace, will you go with me? Didn't I tell you Nita was lovely?" Then seizing the girl by the arm she swept her across the grass to where Helen was standing talking to her brother.
"Helen," she panted, "I want you to come with me to see Nita. Mrs. Van Vorst has sent for me to come up and says for me to bring two of my friends. Will you come?"
"Come!" exclaimed Helen, "of course I will. I have been on the point of expiring with curiosity ever since you told me of your adventure at the gray house."
"Adventure?" repeated Grace. "Oh, Nathalie, you have not told me about it!" in an aggrieved tone.
"But I'm going to! Oh, but I must hurry and get the cream ready or it will be too late!" She started to run, but after a few steps turned back, and waving her hand at the girls, called, "Helen, you tell her while I am getting the tray."
"But I'm coming to help you," replied that young woman. "You come, too," she added, catching Grace by the arm. But to her surprise Grace pulled away from her with the exclamation, "Oh, Helen! I wouldn't go in that house for a mint of money! Why didn't you know? No, I'm not to tell," she ended mysteriously, "but you go," she added, "that is if you are not afraid."
"Afraid?" echoed her companion in amazement, "why should I be afraid, surely you don't think any one could harm us as long as Nathalie has been there and come away safely?"
"I don't know," hesitated Grace, "I!-"
"Oh, girls, I have the tray all ready, but you will have to help me carry it. Do come on, for I do not want to keep Mrs. Van Vorst waiting too long!" Nathalie was back again.
"Grace says she is afraid to go," explained Helen.
"Afraid!" repeated Nathalie bewildered. "What are you afraid of?" she demanded abruptly turning towards her friend.
"Why Nathalie, don't you remember that day we-"
Nathalie continued to gaze at her blankly, and then her face broke into a smile as she remembered the day she and Grace had run away from the gray house afraid of the crazy man.
"Oh, Grace," she cried with merry laughter, "that was the best joke on you and me, for, O dear, why, Grace, it wasn't any crazy man at all, it was only a cockatoo!"
The long kept secret that had troubled Nathalie so much at first was out at last, and she and Helen, who had been told about that when her friend's silence was first broken as far as she was concerned, broke into prolonged laughter at the richness of the joke.
"A cockatoo?" exclaimed Grace incredulously, and then annoyed at the girls' merriment she added crossly, "Oh, I do wish you would explain what is so funny, I think it real mean of you both to laugh that way!"
"Yes, it is mean," added Nathalie, stifling her laughter as she saw the irate expression on her friend's face. "But, Grace, it was funny. I would have told you all about it before-that is how I found out-only I had sworn not to tell. But if you will promise not to reveal what I am going to tell you-honor bright-" this in answer to the girl's nod of assent, "I will tell you the mystery of the gray house!"
It was not long now before Grace heard the long story of how Nathalie had come to go to the house, how she had found out about the cockatoo, the star part she had played with the princess, and the many other happenings that had taken place within the last few weeks.
"But is the poor thing such a terrible monster?" demanded Grace in ready sympathy.
"A monster?" ejaculated Nathalie in amazement. "Who said she was a monster?"
"Why, don't you remember? Edith-"
"Now, see here," exclaimed Nathalie stamping her feet angrily, "don't tell me another word of what the Sport says. I am just beginning to hate that girl, she is always saying and doing things she has no-" She stopped suddenly as it came to her in a conscience-stricken flash that Pioneers were never to say evil of any one.
Helen, seeing the strange expression in her eyes and noticing how her color was coming and going in flashes, cried, "Oh, Nathalie, what is it?"
"It is nothing," replied the girl quickly in a choked voice, "I just stopped-because-well, I remembered that one of the Pioneer laws is not to speak evil of any one. I'm going to keep mum after this, but that girl," her eyes shadowed again, "does provoke me so!"
"Oh, Nathalie, you are a dear girl," exclaimed Helen, putting her arm around her friend and giving her a hug. "I wish we were all as careful about keeping the Pioneer laws as you, but gracious, child, don't repent with such dire woe, for none of us are saints, and the Sport is trying, the Lord knows. But explain to Grace about your friend."
"No," said Nathalie determinedly. "I am not going to say another thing, only that Nita is not a monster, only a humpback, and-but there, if you want to know about her, come and see her."
"Well," spoke up Helen, "if we are going to see the Princess in the tower-how fairylike that sounds-we had better go. And then, as seeing is believing, we'll go and tell the Sport all about it, and stop that funny little tongue of hers that creates so much trouble at times."
"Oh, that will be just the thing; Helen, you are a dear!" cried Nathalie. Then the three girls hurried to the ice-cream table for the tray. Hastily taking it they pushed their way through the crowd, coming and going about the tables, to the porch, where Ellen relieved them of their burden and then conducted them to the sun parlor, where Mrs. Van Vorst and Nita sat waiting to receive them.
"Oh, Mrs. Van Vorst," cried Nathalie as she greeted that lady and her daughter, "it was lovely of you to allow me to bring my two friends to meet Nita. This is Miss Helen Dame," she continued drawing Helen to her, "and this is another Pioneer friend, Miss Grace Tyson."
"I am very glad to meet you, Mrs. Van Vorst," broke in Helen, "for I feel that we are very much indebted to you for allowing us to use your lawn."
"Yes," chimed Grace, as she shook the lady's hand, "we all feel that you have given us a lovely afternoon."
"I think the indebtedness is on my side," smiled the lady, looking down with pleased eyes at the two girls, as they stood glancing shyly at her, their white dresses and red caps making them appear unusually pretty. "But let me make you acquainted with my daughter," she added, leading them to where Nita sat, her blue eyes almost black with the excitement of meeting these two new Pioneers, while her cheeks, usually so pale, were flushed with a delicate pinkness.
After the general hand-shaking was over and the little party had gathered closer to the window to admire the gay-colored flags that fluttered, one from each table, showing with unusual vividness between the green foliage and light dresses of strollers across the lawn, Nathalie asked Nita how she had liked the drill.
"Oh, Nathalie," rejoined the princess enthusiastically, "it was just the prettiest sight, and I told Ellen and Mamma every flag story, didn't I?" Then suddenly remembering the two strangers, she relapsed into a shy silence and crouched back in the friendly shelter of her chair as if with the sudden thought of her deformity and the fear that the girls would see it.
But Grace and Helen were not thinking of the "awful hump" as Nathalie had defined it, but of the pale sweet face with the lovely violet eyes that were shining like bright stars.
"I am awfully glad you liked it," said Helen, suddenly recalled to her duties as the leader of one of the groups. "We tried to make it look as festive as we could with Uncle Sam's old liberty banners, but if it had not been for the lawn we should not have been able to have the drill."
"You are all very kind to thank me so prettily," said Mrs. Van Vorst, "but, as I said, I think you have given me and my little daughter more pleasure than we have given you. The poor child sees so little of life, as we are so secluded here behind these high walls."
In a few moments, as Nita's shyness began to wear off, the little group was chatting in the most friendly way, talking over the incidents of the drill, the Pioneers telling about the nice little sum they had made for their camp expenses, while they all ate their cream and cake. Ellen, like a good soul that she was, had hastened out to the lawn and brought enough of those delicacies to provide for the whole group.
Helen's remark about the Camping Fund started a new subject of conversation and opened the way for Nita to ask many questions about this summer dream of the Pioneers. "Oh," she declared at length, "I just wish you could come up to Eagle Lake and camp on its shores. We have a bungalow up there, you know, and it is just a glorious place. But it gets so lonely after a while, with nothing but the birds and squirrels to talk to. Oh," she ended suddenly with a little sigh, "if I was only well and strong, then I would be a Pioneer, too."
"Oh, but you-" interrupted Nathalie, and then she paused. She was going to say "why you can be," but the quick remembrance of the hump and the delicate face of the girl caused her to halt. With quick readiness she changed to, "Oh, but you would enjoy seeing one of our cheer fires; they are an inspiration for all kinds of dreams with the burning logs and glowing embers."
"You ought to see the fagot party we are going to have Monday night," chimed in Grace. "It is to be a burning send-off to one of the girls who is going South to live for a while."
"A fagot party?" exclaimed Nita with interested eyes. "Oh, do tell all about it; it sounds, well it sounds fagoty. What do you do?"
"Why, we use small fagots tied into bundles," explained Helen, "that is, after we have started a good blazing fire. Each girl has her fagot bundle and as soon as one burns up she throws hers on-"
"Oh, but you haven't told the best part," broke in Grace. "While each girl's fagot bundle is burning she tells a story, which has to be ended by the time her fagots are burned."
"Does she have to stop on the very second?" questioned Nita.
"Yes, she begins as soon as she throws her bundle on the blaze, and keeps on talking until it is all burned up and falls to a shower of fiery sparks. But of course she has to keep a sharp look out on the burning fagots, so as to end her tale with a good climax as the fagots fall," explained Helen.
"Where are you going to have it?" questioned Nita, a shade of disappointment on her face as she thought how she would like to see this fagot party.
"We haven't found a place yet," answered Grace, who was one of the committee, "but we are working hard to have it down in Deacon Ditmas's lot, near the cross-roads."
"Why can't you have it on our lawn?" exclaimed Nita timidly, turning appealing eyes towards her mother. "Oh, Mother, do say they can have it here, and then I can see it."
The girls were so amazed at this sudden and unexpected proposition that they all remained silent, Nathalie in a spasm of dread for fear that Mrs. Van Vorst would think that the Pioneers were a great nuisance being thrust upon her hospitality in this abrupt manner. But she was quickly undeceived as the lady rejoined hastily, "Why, I should be most pleased to let the Pioneers have the lawn for the fagot party. It would give Nita great pleasure, I am sure."
"That will be just lovely!" cried her daughter, clapping her hands delightedly. "And you will take it, won't you?" she coaxed pleadingly, suddenly stopping her demonstrations as if realizing that her plan might not be pleasing to the girls.
"I think it would be dandy," answered Grace. "What do you girls think?" turning towards them as she spoke.
"Why, I think it would be fine," added Helen, "and-"
"But oh, Mrs. Van Vorst, it will destroy the grass on the lawn," spoke up Nathalie doubtfully, "for our cheer fires always leave a blackened burnt place on the ground."
"That will not make any difference," was the prompt rejoinder from that lady. "Peter can rake it off and if necessary he can resod it. I shall only be delighted if you young girls can use it, and the favor will all be on my side-" her voice trembled slightly-"for it will give my little daughter so much pleasure."
"Oh, Nita! you are walking, you will fall and hurt yourself!" exclaimed Nathalie excitedly, as she entered that young lady's room the Monday after the Flag Drill, and found her walking about with a coolness and ease that she had never before seen her display.
Nita broke into merry laughter at the look of dismay on her friend's face. "Of course I'm walking, the doctor says I can, so there!" There was a triumphant toss of her head at Nathalie.
"But you have never walked, that is not much since I have known you!" cried the puzzled girl.
"And you thought I never could," replied the little lady independently. "Well, you are wrong. I used to walk when I felt able, sometimes quite a little. Then a crank of a doctor frightened Mamma to death by telling her I should always lie on my back or side, and for years I have been nailed like a mast to a ship on that couch. But Dr. Morrow says if I have the strength I should walk, and that my strength will come gradually. Oh, who knows what I can do? Walk off this old hump, I hope!"
"Oh, you dear thing!" cried Nathalie, rushing to her friend and giving her a squeeze. "Isn't that just the loveliest thing? What nice times we can have after a while if you can walk, and Dr. Morrow, I always knew he was a dear!"
"There, don't squeeze me to bits, but tell me all the things that have happened since the Flag Drill, and oh, Nathalie, your friends are dears. The one you call Grace is sweet, and the other one, why, she isn't so pretty, but she looks a good sort."
"She is something more than a 'good sort,'" answered Nathalie swiftly, "she is a gem, she is so clever and sensible, and, oh, what a friend she has proved to me! She has a wonderful way of helping you over the hard places. But there, I will tell you what Grace said about you, she said you were a sweet little cherub-and-"
"Just arrived from angel land I suppose, with wings all sprouting," ventured Nita sarcastically. "Well, she ought to see me when I'm mad. Cherub indeed! What did the other one say?"
Nathalie hesitated; her face flushed, "Oh-why, she thought you were a dear, but said you were a bit spoiled."
Nita looked surprised for a minute; then her eyes flashed as she cried with a defiant lift of her head. "Well, I guess if Miss Sensible had a hump to carry about that could never be taken off, no matter how it hurt, and had to be shut up behind walls with nothing to see or any one to talk to, she'd be spoiled, too!" There was a quiver of the chin as the red lips closed tightly in the effort not to cry.
"Oh, you poor little thing, I should not have told you that, for really, Helen thought you were lovely!" Nathalie regretted with all her heart the impulse that had prompted her to tell the truth to Nita. It seemed unkind but it was really spoken in the hope of doing her little friend good.
But Nita pushed her away, "Oh, don't pet me!" as Nathalie attempted to caress her, "I was only teasing. Yes, I know I'm spoiled, but there, do tell me the news, for your face shows that you are just dying to tell me something worth the hearing."
"Well, yes, I have
some news-that's slang, but O dear, it does mean so much sometimes," laughed Nathalie as she and Nita seated themselves on the couch. "Saturday we had a Pioneer Rally. Judge Benson, a friend of Dr. Morrow's from the city, gave us a talk on self-government. He explained the difference between natural, spiritual, and civic law. He also explained the meaning of an ordinance, told us how justice was administered in the different courts, and how self-government, or the reform system is having its try-out in some of the prisons to-day. He says it bids fair to make criminals-men hardened in sin and crime-respectable members of a community."
"Self-government?" queried mystified Nita, "why, the Pioneers are not citizens or criminals; you don't have to be governed!"
"Yes, we do," asserted Nathalie stoutly, "and so does everybody. Civic, natural, and spiritual laws are all right, but back of those laws is the law of self-government, that is the something within each one of us that makes us what we want to be, that makes us control ourselves even when we are babies, when we get slapped for being naughty. If there was no self-government in the world-for it is the government of self when we make ourselves obey the laws of God and man, when we cease evil and do the right-why, if there was no self-government we would all be savages without law and order.
"Judge Benson told us how self-government came to be used in the schools and prisons. Of course, as I said, we all have to govern ourselves in a measure, but it is the applying of this self-government in a new way that has done so much good.
"A very good man, he said, took some waifs from the poor settlements in New York to the country and tried to better them physically and morally by teaching them to be good. But of course, they would do wicked things and have to be punished, and he became very much discouraged because the punishments didn't seem to do them any permanent good. So he thought for a long time and then he formed a Junior Republic, made all the boys and girls citizens, and then told them to appoint their own officials, that is, their own lawyers, judges, officers, and so on. Then when any of them did wrong they were haled into court and tried by their own comrades. Of course, they all became so interested in this new system of punishing-for you see, they all had a part in it-that they became wonderfully good. You see, the boys and girls had to learn to control themselves, for of course, they not only wanted to stand high in the court and be lawyers and judges themselves, but they did not like to be corrected and called down-that's what the judge said-by their own comrades. This venture at making boys and girls learn to control themselves not only taught them self-denial, self-repression, self-development, and the difference between right and wrong, and their duty to themselves as well as to their companions, but it was the means of introducing the same system into the public schools, and in time into the prisons."
"Yes, but I don't understand how it interests you girls."
"Why, Mrs. Morrow read so much about self-government and the good it did that she introduced it into the Pioneer organization, and it has worked wonderfully well there, Mrs. Morrow claims. Instead of a court we have a senate, which is composed of two girls from each bird group, elected by the girls. The Pioneers also elected a president, that's Helen, and a vice-president, she's an Oriole girl and quite clever, too. Jessie Ford is the secretary, and Mrs. Morrow is the Advisory Judge and has the power to veto any ruling of the president, but she never has as yet.
"So you see what it does for the Pioneers, for if any member of the organization breaks a law or does anything wrong she is brought before the Senate. Every Pioneer served with an indictment to appear before the Senate has, of course, the right to choose one of the girls as a counsel, and when there are two girls implicated they both choose counsel. Then after the witnesses are all heard the lawyers sum up, and the case goes to the Senate, who act as a jury and vote by ballot. The case can be appealed to the Advisory Judge; or an offender, by asking or showing contrition, can have her sentence lightened. You don't know what fun it is, and then it helps to make us govern ourselves and teaches us law, too, in a small way, of course."
"Well, I wish they'd try to punish that hateful Sport for using your idea, and to think she got all the credit for it! Why-"
"No, she didn't," laughed Nathalie with an odd little gleam in her eye, "for she was tried before the Senate Saturday."
"Oh, Nathalie, you don't mean it! Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Nita clapping her hands delightedly. "I do hope she got her deserts, the deceitful thing!"
"Well, I am afraid she got all that was coming to her, as Dick said." Nathalie's bright face sobered. "Nita, I was awfully sorry for her. It was so humiliating to have to face that Senate, oh, the girls just hate to be brought before it. I had to tell as a witness, about losing the Stunt, the librarian told of helping me get data and then helping me to look for it, and then how she saw Edith pick it up as it fell from under a book on the table."
"Do tell me what they did to her!" Nita bent forward in curious excitement as she spoke.
"Poor thing! she had all her stars and badges of merit taken from her. Just think, she will have to begin all over again to win them! At first it was voted that she would have to go back and be a third-class Pioneer again, but I was so sorry that I pleaded for clemency, and so the sentence was lightened.
"You see, there is an awful lot of good in Edith, and I am never again going to say anything against her, she has been punished enough. And oh, Nita, Dorothy at the Rally received her third-class badge, and I received my badge for a second-class Pioneer. I'm going to work awfully hard while at camp, so as to qualify as a first-class Pioneer. But there, it is getting late and we shall have to stop talking and take up our reading on the 'Pioneer Women of America.'"
Nita nodded, and in a few moments the two girls were busily engaged; Nita listening with the keenest attention while Nathalie read about the Dutch women who came from Holland and settled New York, little dreaming as she read that this lesson was to culminate in an event of the utmost importance to the Girl Pioneers of Westport.